“Albie begins to complain about having small breasts,” Malia continues. “She brings this up to Ree saying how much she admires Ree’s breasts.”
All of the guys’ eyes avert to Ree’s chest.
“Careful…” Grayson warns, causing some chuckles.
“Well,” Kota jumps in, “Ree being Ree, convinces her that she should totally get breast implants.”
“Albie, of course agreed,” Malia says. “So they devised a plan to make Albie’s dreams come true.”
“The Itty-Bitty-Titty Foundation. That’s what you named it, right?” Kota asks Ree.
“Yes…” Ree agrees with a roll of her eyes, holding back laughter.
“She convinced Albie to flash her tits in exchange for beer and pop cans,” Kota laughs. “How many times did your boobs get shown that day.”
“I honestly don’t remember,” Albie laughs.
“We had, I think, five fifty-five gallon trash bags full of cans and bottles by the time we were done,” Malia says.
“Holy shit,” Jerald says.
“Yeah, but we didn’t have a way to bring them back home with us, so these assholes,” Albie waves her hand toward Ree, Malia, and Kota, “threw them in the dumpster.”
“Seriously?” Koby’s eyes widen. “That would have put a major dent in the resources needed by the Foundation,” he laughs and everyone joins in.
“I know,” Albie pouts. “It was very disappointing.”
“So what about the apple?”
“This guy was actually smoking pot with an apple,” Ree says.
“On Apple River,” Malia adds.
“He tried to get us to join him,” Kota says.
“And Albie wanted to try it, because she never had,” Ree says. “We told her ‘no way’ and she, keep in mind that she was drunk off of her ass, tried to convince us that we could be like Sleeping Beauty. The apple would just knock us right out.”
“I don’t know how that would have convinced us of anything,” Malia shakes her head.
“Like Ree said, I was drunk,” Albie defends herself.
“Yeah and Sleeping Beauty didn’t have anything to do with a friggin’ apple anyway,” Ree laughs.
“Yes, I know. You guys never let me live down my air headed-ness,” she rolls her eyes.
“Christ, you women are crazy,” Blaine shakes his head. “Shall we get out on the water, now or not?”
“Let’s do this!” Tess jumps up.
“Okay, load up,” Grayson stands, pulling Ree up with him.
“I know, I’m a nut,” she cuts him off.
“Yeah, baby,” he bends his head and wraps her up close to him, “but you’re my nut.”
He lowers his mouth to hers, hungrily devouring her until she is clinging to him and breathless. Then he slows the kiss down, taking his time teasing her tongue with his.
“Yeah…” she breathes out, “I’m your nut.”
He grins against her lips, feeling happier than he has ever felt in his life.
****
“Come with me, Ree,” Grayson whispers to me once we’re done eating.
It was an amazing day on the water. The sun was bright and warm. We played in the water, jumping off the boat, pushing each other off and some great making out sessions in the water for Grayson and me.
It was also a long day.
Something about spending all day in the sun always takes it out of me.
We came back to camp around seven o’clock and grilled burgers and potatoes on the fire.
Once we ate those, we broke out the puppy chow (a mixture of corn Chex, chocolate chips, peanut butter and powdered sugar) for dessert.
Now, we’re all sitting around the fire sharing stories about our pasts and our friendships.
Grayson has pulled my chair close to his and I’ve rested my head on his shoulder.
“Why?” I ask him.
“Just trust me, Ree,” I can hear the smile in his voice so I decide to go with it.
We silently get up, hopefully (but not likely) unnoticed by our friends and Grayson leads me a short distance into the woods.
“Chief, what are we doing?” I ask quietly.
You know, because night time in the woods is super creepy and you have to be quiet or you’ll risk waking up all the bad spirits.
“You’ll see,” he doesn’t speak quietly.
“Shh!”
“Why?” he laughs, dragging me by my hand through the woods.
“Because you’ll wake them up,” I whisper back.
“Who?”
“Be quiet!” I scold.
He turns me around and presses me back against a large oak tree.
“Who is going to hear us, baby?” he asks quietly, pushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
“You know…” I drop my voice even lower, “Sasquatch or Wendigo or something like that.”
“Azaria…?” he drops his mouth to the side of my neck and brushes his lips along my pulse.
“Y… yes?”
“Do you really believe in those things?” his tongue comes into play, flicking the underside of my ear.
“I… I don’t know. But I don’t want to find out, Chief.” I wrap my arms around his neck. “What are you doing? We have a camper.”
“Yeah… but everyone is awake and will be listening to us.” His mouth moves down to the base of my neck, where he begins to nibble lightly on it.
“Oh…” I moan out. “Okay. But you’d better be willing to check me for ticks later,” I warn him half-heartedly.
“It’ll be my pleasure,” he smiles against my collarbone, “if you’ll return the favor?”
“Naturally,” I answer through shameless panting.
It’s something I’ve come to expect with Grayson Cole.
He makes me pant.
I can’t stop it.
I don’t care to.
He’s just… that… good…
“Mmmm…” he murmurs against my skin, driving me wild.
“How are we gonna do this?” I ask him, my hands traveling up the back of his shirt.
“Like this,” he says and lifts me up, wrapping my legs around his hips and wrenching a gasp from me.
“Chief…” I breathe out, “my clothes are still on,” I point out with a smile.
“Don’t worry, Ree,” he drops his hand to between my legs, his fingers trailing up my gym shorts and straight to my clit.
“Fuck…” I drop my head back against the tree.
“Good thing you didn’t put underwear on,” he smiles against my chest.
“Uh, huh…” I agree.
He removes his hand and presses his hips into mine, holding me in place against the tree. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a condom, drops his pants and slips it on.
“In a hurry?” I smile at him.
“Not yet,” he grins. “But I will be.”
He reaches up and pulls the top of my tank down, along with my bra, anchoring them under my breasts.
“Perfect,” his voice is gruff and needy causing my ‘gina to dance in victory.
His mouth latches onto mine quickly in a demanding and hungry kiss, leaving me breathless and unable to catch it. His hand travels back up my shorts where he rubs, twists and fingers me until I am begging him shamelessly. My hands fist into his hair, holding him close to me while I grind my hips against his hand and hard cock.
He breaks the kiss and lowers his mouth to my nipple. My chest thrusts forward, involuntarily.
“Chief…” I moan. “Let me feel you…”
His hand disappears from my clit for him to move my shorts to the side and slide his cock deep into me.
“Yes…” I hiss.
“Ree, you’re so amazing,” he groans. “Feel so fucking good.”
We fall into a, now, practiced rhythm of our hips. The bark of the tree scrapes against my shoulders, but the pleasure he gives me pushes the pain to the back of my mind.
“That’s it, Ree,” he says when I�
�m close, “Let me see you. Look in my eyes,” he whispers, his lips brushing against mine, our breaths intermingling.
I let out a quiet groan when it hits me and Grayson quickly covers my mouth with his.
We kiss and thrust through both of our climaxes until we’re thoroughly sated. Grayson continues to slowly move in and out of me, long after we’ve come down.
It’s something he always does; keeping the connection between us. There’s even been a time or two that I’ve fallen asleep while he’s done it. Something about it was too soothing to resist. I’d wake up when he pulled out and go to the bathroom to clean up then come back and fall right back to sleep in his arms.
“Why do you do that?” I ask sounding weak and sated, my head resting on his shoulder, my mouth against his neck.
“Feels too good to stop,” he tells me.
I smile and just enjoy the moment as the haze lifts.
“We’d better be getting back,” I tell him.
“Probably,” he agrees and pulls out of me, gently setting me on my feet.
I straighten my clothes into place and Grayson leads me back to camp where everyone is sitting around the fire talking.
We sit down in our seats and hear a muffled, “Hope you had fun,” snicker coming from Declan’s direction.
“Fuck off,” I lift my nose in the air and ignore him, reaching out and taking Grayson’s hand.
Grayson laughs then falls into conversation with Ryder.
I look around the fire and take notice of everything.
Friends I’ve had for years.
New friends I’ve made that I know will be a part of my life from here on out.
I notice Declan looking toward Malia, who is talking with Tess and Kota more often than he looks at Koby, who is chattering his ears off by the looks of things.
Hmmm…
Interesting.
Kota and Ry make a point of not looking at each other.
Blaine sits quietly listening to Chance and Colt talk on either side of him, his eyes glancing to Brielle, who is laughing with Albie.
Jer brings fresh drinks around then sits down next to Ryder and joins his and Grayson’s conversation.
Yes…
I do believe, my life is forever changed since the moment Grayson Cole entered into it…
***
“Would you tell me about your parents?” Ree asks.
They just got settled in bed after Grayson gave her three orgasms.
She’s curled up in his side, her legs thrown over both of his. Her head resting on his shoulder and her arm over his abdomen.
He was just about to fall asleep and the question threw him for such a loop that he is now wide awake.
“Why, baby?” he asks quietly.
“Well…” she trails her fingers in circles across his stomach.
He loves when she does that.
It always causes the tension to melt from his body.
“You mentioned once that they weren’t nice people and I just wondered…” she hesitates for a moment, “if maybe you would tell me why you said that…?”
He can here the trepidation in her voice.
He also knows that this is a monumental moment.
She wants to know more about him, but doesn’t want to push him.
But she wants to know him.
This causes the sweet pain to shoot through his chest again.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she says after a few minutes of silence, stopping the movement of her hand and snuggling closer into him.
“I do…” he says quietly.
He rolls onto his side to face her, entwining their legs together and resting his arm along her side.
“I grew up in Bristol, Indiana. It’s a small town on the Northern border of the state with a population of around fifteen hundred,” he tells her. “In a town that small, everyone knew me, and I them. This also meant they knew my parents.” He stops to take a breath and wait for her to comment. She remains silent, letting him talk, her fingernails trailing up and down his back.
“Kevin and Gail Cole,” he continues, thinking back to a time that he has spent over ten years forgetting, “were known for their whirlwind romance that turned violent shortly after they had me. They got married at seventeen and I was born two months later. That’s when Kevin began spending every night at the bar; going home with every woman in town, then moving on to the surrounding counties over the years.
“Gail didn’t handle this well… and made this known by taking it out on me. I never knew a kind word or touch until I went to school. I’m sure the only reason they even put me in school was so they wouldn’t have to see me as much…
“I learned to stay away from home as long as I could. I only ever ate at school and I wouldn’t come home until I was sure Gail would be passed out on the couch and Kevin was in another town.
“Oh my god, Chief…” she breathes out.
“It’s okay, babe,” he pulls her close. “I learned very young that I just had to graduate high school in order to leave them behind me. It was my way out.
“When I did come home before dark, which was rare, I was met with violence until I became too big for her to overpower. It didn’t stop her from trying… at first. But once I learned that she couldn’t hurt me, I put a stop to it. After that she was rarely sober… or awake.
“Kevin stopped coming home at all around the time I was thirteen. I got a job to pay the bills… give us a place to sleep just so that we wouldn’t end up on the streets.
“Once I turned eighteen, I enlisted. I told her, mostly just so that she would know she wouldn’t have my income to support her anymore…
“Wanna know what her response was?” he laughs without a trace of humor in his voice.
“What…?” she whispers into his chest where she has buried herself closer, holding tightly to him.
“She said, ‘Maybe one of those Ragheads will kill you and put us all out of our misery’,” he says thinking back to that night.
“What did you say to that?” she asks him.
“Nothing,” he says. “I just looked at her for a moment and then walked out of the house. I got on a bus that took me straight to Fort Benning and never looked back. Hell,” he shakes his head, inhaling her scent from her hair, “I honestly don’t even know if she or Kevin are alive.”
“Does that bother you?” she asks.
“No, babe. It doesn’t,” he tightens his arms around her. “I know that may sound horrible, but I don’t even care.”
She nods her head and that’s when he notices something wet.
He places his fingers gently under her chin, raising it up to the moon light that is cascading down on them through the window, so he can see what he already knows…
“Baby…” he whispers, using his thumb to wipe away the tears from her eyes.
He feels like someone stuck a vice around his chest. The thought of the people from his past causing her pain enrages him.
“Don’t cry,” he closes his eyes painfully and bends his head closer to hers.
“I’m not,” her thick voice squeaks. “My eyes are leaking,” she tells him.
That brings a smile to his face.
“Leaking?”
“Yeah,” she says. “I think one of your chest hairs got in my eye and poked open a tear duct or something,” her voice, nonchalant.
“You’re a nut,” he laughs.
“Maybe,” she concedes with a smile.
“Definitely,” he persists.
“Whatever,” she rolls her eyes. She places her hand on his jaw and brushes her thumb along his chin; her eyes watching her movements for a moment before connecting with his, “Thank you for sharing that with me.”
“Ree,” a soft smile parts his lips, “I’m sure there isn’t anything that I wouldn’t do for you.”
“I have an urge to be inappropriate and I would like your forgiveness beforehand, please,” she says, oddly.
“Ok
ay…” he studies her with an amused expression.
“That bitch is a cuntcicle of epic proportions who deserves to have a twat tap so severe that she chokes on the bile in her stomach.”
Grayson throws his head back and roars in laughter.
“And the other fucker deserves to be raped up the ass by a big black man named Rita. After having his own dick shoved down his throat,” she adds.
“Oh, fuck, Ree,” his body begins quaking with the hilarity of her random thoughts. “Twat taps and cuntcicles?”
“Just sayin’,” she shrugs unapologetically.
“Babe, you’re what dreams are made of,” he laughs.
She grins at him with a smile so big and beautiful that it leaves him breathless.
“You, too, Chief,” she tells him.
“Come here, Nut. Let’s get some sleep,” he rolls onto his back and holds his arm out for her curl up on.
“Sounds good,” she says and burrows into his side. After a few minutes she says, “I’m sorry you went through that,” barely more than a whisper.
His arm tightens in answer and they both drift off shortly after.
ChapterFifteen
The Day His World Stopped
I wake before everyone else on Sunday morning.
This surprises me as I am not an early riser.
I love early mornings, don’t get me wrong.
I just prefer that the way I see them is that I haven’t gone to bed.
But not today.
I’m awake in a way that I know I won’t be going back to sleep.
Must be the nature thing…
I crawl out from under Grayson’s arm, carefully and quietly, then get dressed in my shorts and a t-shirt. Once dressed, I throw my hair up into a knot on top of my head, slip on my flip flops and leave the camper.
We have a table set up outside under the awning where we keep the coffee pot.
I told him this was a must so that whoever gets up first doesn’t make a ton of noise and wake the other person.
This, of course, was said when I thought he would be the other person getting up and making all the noise and I would be the person sleeping in.
Once the coffee is ready to go, I pour myself a cup and add cream and sugar then grab one of the chairs from the pile, unfold it and sit down in front of the fire ring.
My Coyote Ugly Life Page 21
